Better Education Actually Hurts A Big Part Of Britain's Work Force

An alarming report shows shocking figures suggesting that discrimination based on color still runs rampant in the U.K. employment circles.

If you are black in the United Kingdom, the harder you work, the less you get paid.

A new report by Trades Union Congress shows shocking disparity in the employment prospects of four different communities residing in the United Kingdom. Analysis of pay data suggests a black worker will earn approximately one-fourth less than a white worker even after graduating magna cum laude from a university.

The report delves into research that reveals some bleak findings: If a black person quits school after taking his GCSE, his income will be 13.6% less than a white person. After finishing his A-Level, the gap widens further to 17%. If he succeeds in making his way through university, his efforts will be rewarded by a further increase in the pay gap — an astounding 23% which amounts to £4.30 less wage for every hour they work.

British Prime Minister David Cameron noted that even if a black person succeeds in climbing up the ranks, it is still lonely at the top.

“There are no black generals in our Armed Forces and just 4 percent of chief executives in the FTSE 100 are from ethnic minorities,” the prime minister said.

TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady commented the figures were worrisome as not just blacks but Asians face a massive pay gap, even with a university degree.

The grim figures come in wake of a report by the Resolution Foundation last month which found ethnic minorities have lower employment rates than other groups.

Malia Bouattia, black students’ officer at the National Union of Students, said: “It starts the second a black child enters the education system where you see an attainment gap, a lack of diversity amongst teaching staff. You are entering a space that rejects you in many ways and then it sends you into a workspace where you hardly find anyone in positions of leadership who really looks like you.”

The TUC is urgently calling on the government to create an equal employment opportunity strategy for blacks and other minorities. The educational achievement of people of African descent is unacceptably low in the U.K.; governmental reforms like free schooling can help the situation. And this is not the only place where blacks are racially profiled—the U.K. prisons are filled with non-violent black offenders who are disproportionally singled out with no chance of rehabilitation or opportunities for employment after they are released.